The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-04-05
A SIXTY-DAYS FAST.
The Champion Food-Abstainer of
the World.
The Man Who Puts Succi, Tanner and
merlatti to the BIusL-Fasters From
Necessity and From Choice.

Some little regret having been Occa.
gioned among the physicians who
watched Merlatti that he should not be
dying at the end of his long fast, and
have given them an opportunity Of de-
termining by dissection the effects of
Fifty days total abstinence from all eplid
food, it may be worth while to recall
the fact that i'm other cases an even
longer abstinence from food has been
Recorded. with abundant opportunity
for examining the condition of the un-
fortunate victims interior.
The first case of the kind which. so
Ear a. L know, is on record, is that of
aPatient of DIR. Currie. a well-kmown
physician of generation or SD ago.
In August. 1895, a rkshireman of
property applied to Curie for assist
ance on account of an obstruction i'm
his throat. which threatened soon TO
deprive him of the power of swallow
ing When first seen by Currie. the
patient had already lost the power of
swallowing solids of any kind, and the
quantity of liquid matter he was able
a swallow was not sufficient for his
ButritiOn. He WAS already consider
ably reduced. The operation of trach-
etomy naturally suggested itself to DIR.
Gurrie rs appropriate under these con-
ditlons. But on passing bougie into
the patients .4llet it WAS found that,
althOugh there WAS an obstruction some
two inches down. the real obstruction
laid seven or eight inches drcp-a hard
t.Imor having formed in The passage.
whose steady growth threatened IL
CLOSE it wholly.
On October II the obstruction rather
suddenly increased inSnmuch that
from that day the patient could not
swallow more than seven or eight
EpoonfulS of broth. Even that quantity
diminished until. on October 80. the
passage was wholly closed. and from
that day the patient took no more food
ST any sort. Bathing in milk and
water and other external applications
OF food can hardly be supposed To have
had much Authoritative value. :" that
the subsequent progress of the en-
forced fast may reasonably be COM
pared with TIE cases ui Succi Mrrlatti.
Tanner and tn rest OF The fr..rly-fa,t-
ni" fraternity.
On October 80. then. after thirteen
DAYS OF almost total abstinence from
fno'}. proceeded bl two months of very
short fare. the unfortunate gentleman
entered ou the fasting path. which in
bi> case could end in hut one wav.
Before he had begun Ia suffer from the
obstruction i" his swallowing hc was
rather rorpulrnt, weighing 30 pounds
d. MAS ta,! and linrly-huilt MANI. By
SA:toier 5ohi> Weight had been reduced
to a. pounds. In the first twenty dav,
from the period of the Sudden increase
of the obstruction. hi~ weight WAS re-
duccd ~ III pounds In the next fnuI
da.Fe he lb>t five poIInd> more. On tia,
thiriy-Srcond dag from the time he
ceased to swallow he became drliriou>.
Al HIS time he weighed only l3s
pounds, having lost Upwards of 10C
pounds of hi or" inal weight. He died
on the thirty-SiAth day from the time Of
absolute abstinence from food This.
with the thirteen days "f almost total
abstinence, and the preceding two
mouths, during which the loss of more
than quarter of his weight showed
that he wa> receiving much less than
the proper amountof nutrition, NAV De
regarded "a a fast considerably more
taxing than that which Mcrlaiii has re-
GENTLY completed, and altogether more
remarkable than either Tanners or
Susr-i fast. seeing that neither of these
either tasted 80 completely or so long.
Apart from this. DIR. Currics patirnt
was suffering from "a disease which
must 10 some degree have taxed his
physical strength. Thus. whatever
Turner'S, Succi's and Merlatti' ; fasts
may have shown. thi< YorkShiremap's
enforced fast had taught much more
effectively ninety-one years ago.
For one month from the time of total
abstinence from food the unfortunate
.nfau retained "a calm and even cheerful
@snneanor. Occasionally he expressed
a wish that he could swallow. but not
often nor aaxiously. When questioned
rs TO his appetite. he slwaYs said that